AA State Boys Basketball: Billings Skyview beats Glacier in 3rd-place game

GREAT FALLS — Glacier couldn’t overcome a career night by Billings Skyview senior Daine Muller, losing 62-52 to the Eagles in the consolation final at the Class AA state basketball tournament on Saturday at Four Seasons Arena.

Muller finished with a career-high 38 points, drilling six 3-pointers and hitting 10 of 11 from the free-throw line. The Skyview senior also had five rebounds and a pair of huge blocks.

“Daine Muller was amazing today,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said. “I looked at his stat line, it was incredible. All the credit to him, he did a great job.”

Glacier hung with Skyview for most of the first three quarters, but couldn’t quite keep up as Muller heated up. The Wolfpack trailed just 32-30 midway through the third when a Muller 3-pointer kicked off an Eagles’ run.

Nolan McHugh hit a 3 the next trip down the court and Muller countered a pair of Glacier baskets with two more deep shots, as Skyview closed the third quarter on a 14-6 run. Three more deep balls to open the fourth quarter put the Eagles up 14 before Glacier was able to make its run.

Evan Epperly got a steal at midcourt for a breakaway layup and the Wolfpack put on its pressure defense on the ensuing inbounds pass. Glacier scored the next six points and cut its deficit to 54-48 with three minutes left in the game.

But Muller answered with two buckets in the next 30 seconds, stretching Skyview’s lead back to 10 points, where it iced the game on free throws.

“We were getting it going,” Harkins said. “Then they hit a couple of buckets. Credit goes to them. We made our run, they stopped it.

“We were with them for most of the first half. Then they got that run going and that’s how it went.”

Epperly and Ryan Edwards led Glacier with 12 points each and Logan Iverson had 10.

Earlier in the day, Glacier rolled past Great Falls High in a loser-out game, thumping the Bison 68-52.

Glacier jumped out to a 9-2 start and never trailed in the game. The Wolfpack doubled Great Falls’ score for most of the first half, leading 32-17 at half.

Epperly excelled in the third quarter, scoring 12 straight points for Glacier at the start of the period and assisting in the fast break on the next bucket.

Four Wolfpack players scored in double-digits, led by Epperly’s 17 points. Iverson scored 12 points, Edwards had 11 and Kyle Griffith had 10.

Glacier finishes with a 19-5 record, the most wins in its history. The Wolfpack will graduate 11 seniors from this team, including four players who started this season.

“We had a great season,” Harkins said. “We had the most wins in school history, we got as far as we ever have in the tournament.”

“There’s a lot of real positive things that we’ll focus on tomorrow. But today stings a bit.”

In the state championship game, Missoula Hellgate defeated Helena Capital 58-53 in overtime.

Consolation Final

Glacier 11 13 12 16 — 52

Billings Skyview 12 18 16 16 — 62

GLACIER (19-5) — Bryan Michaels 1-3 0-0 2, Logan Iverson 4-10 0-4 10, Ryan Edwards 6-11 0-0 12, Kyle Griffith 4-8 0-0 9, Evan Epperly 4-11 4-5 12, Matt Peters 3-5 1-4 7, Charlie Obermiller 0-3 0-0 0, Reid Siderius 0-2 0-1 0, Tanner Olson 0-1 0-0 0, James Cutler 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Kalen Reed 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 7-12 52.

BILLINGS SKYVIEW (20-4) — Daine Muller 11-23 10-11 38, Tanner Nelson 1-1 0-0 2, Josiah Running Crow 3-6 0-1 6, Alex Zacher 1-2 0-3 2, Matthew Furhman 0-4 2-5 2, Konner Wiechman 1-1 2-2 5, Nolan McHugh 2-5 0-0 5, Kendal Manual 0-0 0-0 0, Cole Sowden 1-1 0-0 2, Baylee Slevira 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Smyle 0-0 0-0 0, Teague Rutherford 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-43 14-22 62.

3-point goals – Glacier 1-11 (Griffith 1-3, Obermiller 0-2, Iverson 0-4, Epperly 0-1, Olsen 0-1), Skyview 8-16 (Muller 6-14, Wiechman 1-1, McHugh 1-1). Rebounds – Glacier 26 (Edwards 5, Iverson 5), Skyview 27 (Zacher 6). Fouls – Glacier 22, Skyview 13. Fouled out – Peters. Steals – Glacier 12 (Griffith 4), Skyview 3 (3 with 1). Assists – Glacier 8 (Epperly 2, Michaels 2), Skyview 12 (Fuhrman 4, Zacher 4). Blocks – Glacier 8 (Edwards 3, Iverson 2, Michaels 2, Siderius), Skyvew 3 (McHugh, Running Crow, Muller). Turnovers – Glacier 5, Skyview 14.

Championship Game

Helena Capital 9 12 16 14 2 — 53

Missoula Hellgate 11 11 19 10 7 — 58

Helena Capital — Kyle Nickol 1-4 0-0 3, Marcus Lindgren 0-0 1-2 1, David Lindgren 2-6 2-2 7, Keeley Larson 1-3 0-0 3, Kyle Harrington 4-9 4-4 15, Hunter Beto 3-8 3-5 11, Levi Dawes 4-6 0-0 8, Aaron Gilman 0-1 0-0 0, Carson Dummer 2-6 1-4 5. Totals 17-43 11-17 53.

Missoula Hellgate — Tres Tinkle 10-21 4-5 26, Dylan Harvala 1-1 1-2 3, Luke Bewlkey 5-7 1-2 11, Brady Henthorn 1-2 0-0 3, Hunter Mahlum 1-2 0-0 2, Devin Bray 2-7 0-0 5, Pat Colberg 3-8 1-1 8, Kole Swartz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-48 7-10 58.

Total fouls—HC 11, MHG 15. Fouled out—none. 3-pointers—Nickol, D. Lindgren, Larson, Harrington 3, Beto 2, Timkle 2, Henthorn, Bray, Colberg. Rebounds—HC 24 (Dummer 6), MHG 26 (Tinkle 8). Assists—HC 11 (three with three), MHG 15 (Bray 5). Blocks—MHG 2 (Colberg 2). Steals—HC 7 (Harrington 2), MHG 9 (Tinkle 3, Bray 3). Turnovers—HC 12, MHG 10.

Loser-Out Games

Glacier 14 18 24 12 — 68

Great Falls 7 10 15 20 — 52

Glacier (19-4) — Charlie Obermiller 0-1 1-2 1, Reid Siderius 2-6 0-0 5, Kyle Griffith 5-10 0-0 10, Evan Epperly 6-8 3-3 17, Bryan Michaels 0-3 0-0 0, Tanner Olsen 0-0 0-0 0, Kalen Reed 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Brown 1-1 0-0 3, Logan Iverson 4-7 4-6 12, James Cutler 0-1 2-2 2, Matt Peters 1-2 5-6 7, Ryan Edwards 5-7 1-2 11. Totals 24-46 16-21 68.

Great Falls (11-13) — B. Clark 1-3 0-0 3, L. Vining 4-8 3-4 12, K. Sukut 2-2 0-2 4, S. Gopher 2-5 0-0 5, D. Tatarka 5-14 5-6 15, L. Racine 2-10 0-0 4, J. Banach 0-0 0-0 0, C. Johnson 1-1 0-0 3, J. Anderegg 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 19-50 10-14 52.

Total fouls—G 10, GF 15. Fouled out—Tatarka. 3-pointers—Siderius, Epperly 2, Brown, Clark, Vining, Gopher, Johnson. Rebounds—G 30 (Edwards 9), GF 28 (Tatarka 6). Assists—G 20 (five with 3), Great Falls 12 (Tatarka 5). Blocks—G 2 (Peters, Edwards), GF 2 (Anderegg 2). Steals—G 3, GF 4 (Tatarka 4). Turnovers—G 4, GF 8.

Billings West 10 12 11 3 4 — 40

Billings Skyview 13 8 10 5 6 — 42

Billings West — Josh Zeller 0-1 0-0 0, Brennen Whittmeyer 0-3 0-0 0, Nate Deming 0-8 0-0 0, Tanner Berg 2-3 0-0 5, Andrew Campbell 3-10 9-10 16, Michael Tessmer 1-1 0-0 2, Jared Samuelson 4-8 1-1 10, Danny Betcher 0-2 0-0 0, Stewart Harris 3-9 1-3 7. Totals 13-45 11-14 40

Billings Skyview — Matthew Fuhrman 3-11 3-8 10, Daine Muller 3-18 1-2 8, Tanner Nelson 0-1 0-0 0, Alex Zacher 4-10 4-5 13, Cole Sowden 1-2 0-0 2, Joshiah Running Crow 3-11 0-0 6, Konner Wiechman 1-4 0-0 3, Kolan McHugh 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-58 8-15 42.

Total fouls—BW 14, BSV 16. Fouled out—none. 3-pointers—Berg, Campbell, Samuelson, Fuhrman, Muller, Zacher, Wiechman. Rebounds—BW 40 (Samuelson 12), Skyview 35 (Running Crow 9). Assists—Skyview 2, BW 8 (Fuhrman 3). Blocks—BW 3, Skyview 2. Steals—BW 3, Skyview 9 (Muller 4). Turnovers—BW 11, Skyview 7.